| Summary: | <i>Tympanis</i> species (Leotiales) are plant pathogens distributed mostly in northern temperate ecosystems. The diversity and identity of some species remains unclear. <i>Tympanis vagabunda</i>, found in Sicilia (Italy) on dry twigs of <i>Rosa</i>, <i>Rubus</i>, and <i>Pistacia</i>, is one example of an obscure and poorly known species. During the study of its type specimen in S, which contained one twig with a wood anatomy fitting neither of the three mentioned hosts, the microanatomic structures indicated that it belongs to the genus <i>Rutstroemia</i> (Helotiales). To investigate its identity, the types of <i>R. fruticeti</i>, <i>R. juniperi</i>, <i>R. urceolus</i>, and <i>R. longiasca</i> were studied for comparison. The species for which molecular data were available were included in a dataset that contained identified species of <i>Rutstroemia</i>, along with other select species from the families Rutstroemiaceae and Sclerotiniaceae. <i>R. fruticeti</i>, a saprobe frequently reported from <i>Rubus fruticosus</i> in Europe, is found to be a later synonym of <i>T. vagabunda</i>, and the combination <i>Rutstroemia vagabunda</i> is proposed. <i>R. juniperi</i> is an infrequently reported European species on twigs of <i>Juniperus</i> and is morphologically hard to distinguish from <i>R. vagabunda</i>; available molecular data support its recognition as a distinct species. <i>R. longiasca</i> differs from <i>R. vagabunda</i> in its black apothecia, smaller asci, and narrower ascospores. <i>R. urceolus</i> differs from <i>R. vagabunda</i> in having black apothecia and smaller inamyloid asci, and excipulum at the flanks and margin is composed of dark-walled hyphae.
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